Guarda Wallet vs Phoenix

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-26

A capable multi-platform wallet whose 2020 domain hijack exposed the real weakness: a login flow built on uploading your backup.

Phoenix4.0Bitcoin-only

A real Lightning node on your phone from the team behind Eclair, with a published fee table and a privacy tradeoff ACINQ states outright.

Verdict: Phoenix

Phoenix rates higher on our rubric: 4.0 against 3.0 for Guarda Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Guarda Wallet: 3.0
Phoenix: 4.0

Guarda Wallet and Phoenix, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Guarda Wallet and Phoenix compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Guarda Wallet	Phoenix
Editorial rating	3.0	4.0 (favoured on this row)
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Guarda	ACINQ
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted under a password you choose	self-custodial, a real Lightning node running on your phone behind a 12 word seed
Bitcoin-only	No	Yes
Runs on	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, Browser extension	iOS, Android
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	Not stated	Lightning only, connecting to ACINQ's nodes, with the option to watch the chain through your own Electrum server
Released	2017	December 2019, alongside ACINQ's Eclair node implementation
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	No published list
Last reviewed	2026-08-25	2026-08-26

Pros and cons, side by side

Guarda Wallet

What works

Guarda's CEO published a dated, detailed account of the 2020 attack, including the registrar's own logs
Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, a web app and a Chrome extension
Keys are generated locally and encrypted under your own password, and Guarda never holds them
Staking on 14 networks, multisig support and 24/7 live support, per Guarda's own site
Buying built in with cards and Apple Pay across a wide asset range

What to watch

The web and extension flow involves uploading your backup file, which is precisely what the 2020 phishing page was built to collect
The 2020 breakdown came through a domain registrar account, a dependency Guarda does not control and cannot audit
Third party perpetual futures and prediction markets now sit inside the wallet, which is more moving parts than holding bitcoin needs
The user, token and blockchain counts are Guarda's own figures, published on its own homepage
A hot wallet with no hardware signing of its own

Phoenix

What works

A real self-custodial Lightning node on the phone, not an account on somebody's server
Fees published as a table on ACINQ's own site: 0.4% plus 4 sat to send, free to receive when you have liquidity
Standard BIP39 seed on a BIP84 path, recoverable in Electrum if ACINQ ever disappeared
Built by ACINQ, which develops the Eclair implementation and runs a large routing node
Rotating taproot receive addresses, with swaps that look like ordinary transactions on chain

What to watch

ACINQ's own FAQ says Phoenix offers no privacy advantage over a custodial wallet and that ACINQ knows the destination and amount of payments
Receiving without enough inbound liquidity costs 1% plus mining fees, and a new channel costs 1,000 sat
No on-chain balance, which makes it a spending wallet rather than somewhere to park savings
Recovering from a force close takes roughly 720 blocks, about five days
Wake-up notifications rely on Google services, so GrapheneOS users need the sandboxed Play Services app
Was off US app stores from May 3, 2024 until some point in 2025, which is why some reviews still call it unavailable there

Frequently asked questions

Is Guarda Wallet or Phoenix better?

Phoenix rates higher on our rubric: 4.0 against 3.0 for Guarda Wallet. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Are Guarda Wallet and Phoenix free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Guarda Wallet is self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted under a password you choose; Phoenix is self-custodial, a real Lightning node running on your phone behind a 12 word seed.

Is Guarda Wallet or Phoenix bitcoin-only?

Phoenix is bitcoin-only; Guarda Wallet supports other assets too. Bitcoin plus more than 70 blockchains, by Guarda's own count

The full reviews: Guarda Wallet and Phoenix, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

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